What programming language is used for creating apps?

This article will explain the best 10 programming languages used to build a mobile application. The list will cover programming languages like Kotlin, Java, C#, and cross-platform frameworks.

Mobile technology has taken over the digital era. It has taken over people’s minds in a way that they need to rely on gadgets for searching the Internet, connecting with family and friends, doing financial transactions, and much more.

People spend a significant amount of time interacting with applications, which has increased the demand for developing mobile apps and the ever-growing need for a programming language.

If you’re planning to develop your mobile app, you must use the right technology. And this bold step involves choosing a programming language that will ensure you can build a user-friendly and innovative application.

When choosing a programming language, the best thing to do is to understand how each of them works. Here is a curated list of programming languages you can check for your application development needs.

Top 10 programming languages used for creating apps

Here are the best ten programming languages to development a mobile application.

Here is the detailed list:

1. Kotlin

Kotlin is a statistically typed, concise programming language for building modern Android applications. Developers consider it as a developed version of Java; a versatile language that can overrule its drawbacks.

Kotlin is interoperable with Java and runs effectively on Java Virtual Machine. It has several progressive features making it a preferred option for developers. 

It has the potential to influence a vibrant programming language like Java to develop robust and high-performing applications. Not only does it eliminate the necessity to end every coding line with a semicolon, but it also mitigates the superfluous feature of null point exceptions (as in Java). 

Features

• It offers a clean, perceptive, and concise syntax that enhances team efficiency and productivity.

• It is a versatile and interoperable programming language.

• It generates simple, cleaner, and compact code as compared to Java.

2. Java

Java is the programming language of possibilities – possibilities that power the innovation behind the digital ecosystem.

Java is a preferred programming language, and it is universally used for developing Android apps that can run in two different ways – either in a browser window or a virtual machine. This class-based and object-oriented language is structured to have as little application dependencies as possible.

This high-level, and robust programming language was the official programming language for Android app development until 2019, and after that, Kotlin replaced it. Nevertheless, the built-in open-source library and a broad array of features offered by Java can still help you develop the best cross-platform Android apps, server apps, websites, games, and more. 

Features

• Java is popular for portability and code reusability

• It is a platform-independent language that is versatile and flexible to use

• Java is a machine-independent language

• It safeguards app developers against problems inherent in memory leaks, native code, etc.

3. C#

Pronounced as ‘C sharp’- C# is another robust, object-oriented programming language used for mobile app development. Like Java, it implements garbage collection, which means fewer chances of memory leaks.

It has a simpler and cleaner syntax as compared to Java, making writing codes a lot easier. C# is extensively used for developing mobile apps, majorly for windows and cross-platform application development.

C# is developed for Microsoft as it can build durable Windows applications. Also, it is reinforced by Unity3D, making it a great language for developing games.

Features

• Quick-to-deploy and easy-to-use

• Simple, general-purpose, and modern language

• Generic, functional, declarative, object-oriented, strong-typing, and imperative disciplines

• Most preferred programming language

4. C++

C++ is an object-oriented, cross-platform programming language used for developing Android applications using the Android Native Development Kit.

Many developers consider this language as the top choice in mobile application development. C++ provides a massive pool of built-in, ready-to-use components for your app development. 

It comes with low-level and generic memory manipulation features, which makes it a worthy choice for developers. Besides being used for developing native and mobile applications, C++ is also used to write codes for GUI-based apps, banking apps, games, real-time mathematical simulation, etc.

Also, it is quite famous with Cloud computing applications as it can easily adapt to changing hardware. 

Features

• Simple-to-use and easy-to-learn

• Mid-level programming language

• Built-in compilers and ready-to-use library

• Fast speed

• Portable or machine-independent

• Structured programming language

• Memory management

• You get complete control over this language while working with it

5. Swift

A prospective trend in the application development area – Swift is an intuitive and powerful, open-source programming language designed to work with tvOS, iOS, and OS X platforms.

It is a highly scalable and flexible language that is expressive and fun to work with. Swift has industrial-quality systems and it can easily adapt a programming pattern, making it even more convenient for developers to add modern features to an app. It comprises superior coding features with easy maintenance. Swift makes apps convenient to scale.

Designed to minimize the potential security risks from Objective-C, Swift is enhancing Apple’s ecosystem. If you are developing anything specific for Apple, search for Swift language. 

Features

• Projects are convenient to scale

• Coding with Swift is fun and interactive

• Swift syntax is expressive, yet concise

• Advanced control flow

• Generics

• Multiple Tuples and return values

• Structures that support methods, protocols, and extensions

6. Objective-C

Objective-C is an extended class of the C language. It is a vital language that was chosen by Apple to develop applications that were scalable and healthy. It is a mature and well-updated programming language, majorly used for macOS operating systems and iOS app developments.

It is powerful, object-oriented, and offers additional features that include Smalltalk-style messaging. 

Features

• A vast majority of developers use it because it is convenient to use and learn

• It offers dynamic typing and optional static typing

• Message sending

• Expressive message syntax

• Introspection

• Dynamic runtime

• Automatic garbage collection

• C inside

• C++ fluent

• Simplicity

• Access to Apple technologies

7. React Native

React Native is an original JavaScript framework that is used to develop localized applications for Android and iOS. It lets you build truly native applications.

This open-source framework is developed by Facebook Inc. that integrates parts of the native app development with the premium JavaScript library, React, for developing user interfaces.

With React, developers can maintain two platforms and a common technology by sharing a single code base across various platforms. It expresses the ability to reuse native code and aids in developing cheaper applications at a faster rate. This saves both time and coding heads. 

React Native is an industry-leading app development framework that strives to give customers an unmatched user experience at their fingertips. Powered by JavaScript, it also allows developers to iterate at lightning speed, which means no more waiting for native builds to finish. Only saving, seeing, and repeating. 

Features

• UI focused

• Write one and use it anywhere

• Strong developer’s community

• Support for various third-party libraries

• Mobile environment performance

8. Flutter

A Google-backed user interface, Flutter cleverly crafts natively compiled applications for mobile, desktop, as well as web from a particular codebase.

This open-source UI software builder features fully tailored widgets that facilitate building native apps in less time. Besides, the layered architecture of Flutter ensures a quicker exhibition of components. 

Organizations and developers prefer Flutter as it works with the existing code and is free to use. It is quicker and more dynamic, and developers can deploy this toolkit to write, change, and efficiently view the code directly in the app.

Features

• Rich motion API

• Built-in material design

• Robust widget support

• Integration, scalability, and flexibility

• Hot Reload

• One-stop solution for developing industry-grade apps

• Internationalized Flutter libraries

• Native performance

• Vast widget library

9. Xamarin

Xamarin is one of the principal cross-platform open-source application development frameworks run by Microsoft.

It uses the C# programming language to engineer applications for Windows mobile, Android, and iOS. It enables developers to reach native iOS and Android APIs, offering a shared C# code base and application testing across various devices through the Xamarin Testing Cloud.

Xamarin was initially founded in 2011, which then used Common Language Specification and Common Language Infrastructure, also known as Microsoft.NET.

In 2016, Microsoft acquired Xamarin and made the Xamarin SDK, an open-source platform that became a vital part of the Xamarin Visual Studio IDE. However, to leverage Xamarin’s full potential, developers also need to have in-depth knowledge of Android and iOS besides C#.

Features

• Application loader

• Android SDK manager

• Diagnostic tools

• Google emulator manager

• Storyboard files

10. Ionic

Ionic’s application development framework creates amazing cross-platform desktop, mobile, and web apps. It is a robust, open-source UI toolkit deployed for developing superior-quality native and web app experiences. Ionic offers a complete library of UI gestures, tools, and components that makes app-building fast.

It has been developed to perform and run smoothly on various mobile devices and engineered to collaborate seamlessly with various frontend frameworks. Its components are written in CSS, JavaScript, and HTML, making it convenient to create modern UIs that run everywhere. 

Free-to-use and open-source, Ionic helps you build applications at blazing speed with pre-built best practices like touch-optimized gestures, AOT compiling, hardware sped-up transitions, and pre-rendering powering the app-building process. 

Features

• Cross-platform

• Cordova plugin

• Ionic CLI

• JavaScript components

• Beautiful design

• License

• Simplicity

• Framework compatibility

Conclusion

This article explained the best ten programming languages for mobile app development.

Kotlin, Java, C#, and C++ are the best options for an Android app.

Swift and Objective-C are the ideal options for an iOS app.

React Native, Flutter, Xamarin and Ionic are great options for cross platform development.

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